The field of the invention pertains to dosing apparatus for the automatic filling of preformed packages with liquid or highly viscous materials and, in particular, to apparatus that can be adjusted for weight or volume without spillage and can be quickly disassembled, cleaned and reassembled.
Examples of the preformed packages to which the apparatus is particularly suited are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,046 and German invention document DE 3143 671 A1 wherein a separable top or tongue may be torn off to provide the dispensing outlet for the package, however, the disclosure below is not limited to the particular packages disclosed in these publications. Rather, the filling apparatus may be used to fill a wide variety of preformed cartons, plastic bottles and glass bottles.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,382,644 illustrates bag or package filling apparatus as a part of a bag forming and filling machine. In this machine the bags or packages are raised on fixtures to insert nozzles of the filling apparatus into the packages and the packages are filled before the packages are again lowered. Belgian invention publication No. 547082 discloses a package forming and filling sequence wherein open top formed packages are filled from hoppers that travel with the packages. The hoppers have filling tubes depending therefrom which enter the packages during the filling operation.